Car wash destroys van, but no help from Petro-Canada: customer

WATCH ABOVE: Kelly Botelho went for a routine wash at a Petro-Canada service station last summer. But as Sean O’Shea reports, her car was so severely damaged, it had to be written off — and nine months later, the operators are taking no responsibility. 

TORONTO– Kelly Botelho and her 13-year-old daughter thought their ride through a west Toronto car wash would be uneventful. But this would be no ordinary soap, rinse and dry on a hot summer’s day.

“We still feel it,” said Botelho, relating what happened Aug. 18, 2014 at the Petro-Canada automatic wash in the Kipling and Rexdale area.

Botelho had barely pulled her 2004 Dodge Caravan into the wash and punched in the code to start the cycle. Ahead of her, a truck was being pulled through the wash. Moments later, it was clear something was wrong.

“There’s wood flying around the car wash,” Botelho said, “there’s metal flying, an extension cord is whipping at the car.”

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Debris on board the pickup truck had apparently become entangled in the large brushes used to clean vehicles in the wash. When the metal-wrapped brushes reached her van, they started scraping and tearing at the vehicle.

READ MORE: Customers frustrated after car wash owner refuses to fix damage

Botelho says she put the brakes on hard, leaned on the horn and attempted to drive the vehicle off the track and out of the path of the wash. No one responded to her calls for help. So she says she threw herself over her daughter to shield her from what was ahead.

The windshield was broken but the glass remained intact; the rear glass was shattered and water poured into the van. The van’s undercarriage and body were severely damaged.

Her insurance company wrote off the vehicle as unrepairable.

Botelho says Petro-Canada denied liability for the damage. She says the company pointed out that the wash was independently owned and operated. She says it’s not fair that by denying any coverage, she had to use her own vehicle insurance to cover damage.

The only offer she says she got from Petro-Canada: two free car washes.

“Needless to say, I said no,” said Botelho, who has not been to an automatic car wash since, nor has her daughter.

Botelho says she sought counselling after the incident which she described as “traumatic.”